Hannah's Blog: Week 13: Hope

I think we all need a bit of hope these days.

It's been just over a week since a reality TV star became the US president, and already I am getting exhausted by all the injustice.
Last week the US barred Syrian refugees from entering their country, indefinitely.
A few nights ago an attacker (I don't know who) killed several people in a mosque in Quebec City.
The other night I watched 13th on Netflix. It is hard for me to explain this documentary. It was just the kind of film where you sit silent and unmoving for the entire duration of the final credits. The documentary was just wave after wave of being shocked by injustice that casually exists and is for the most part unchallenged.
Quote at the end of 13th:

“People say all the time, ‘well, I don’t understand how people could have tolerated slavery?’ ‘How could they have made peace with that?’ ‘How could people have gone to a lynching and participated in that?’ ‘That’s so crazy, if I was living at that time I would never have tolerated anything like that.’
And the truth is we are living in this time, and we are tolerating it.”

There is also a lot of injustice here in Kenya, by the way. There is corruption and blatant sexism and right now the doctors are on strike and that disproportionately affects the poorest people and people get put in jail for years and years for minor crimes and school fees are so prohibitive that some people can't even afford to send their children to secondary school and....

I am getting exhausted, because I cannot escape injustice. It sometimes seems like there is no choice but to tolerate it because to not tolerate it would require me to opt out of many of the systems of the world, systems that are pretty hard to escape. But I am at a point, personally, where I feel like I have no choice. Jesus said "By this everyone will know that you are disciples, if you have love for one another." So what does love for one another look like? What does bringing God's kingdom look like, here and now? And how can I have hope for God's Kingdom coming, when I see all these seemingly powerful unjust systems in the world?

Now, more than ever, we need hope. It is very easy to become discouraged. I wonder if the world will ever get better. But then...

Then I see a post on social media from a lady from my church at home. She is planning an event for the church ladies, and she wants to include making a quilt for the Syrian refugee family who will soon be arriving. The other ladies agree. I think of how some people in my church would have reacted to refugee sponsorship even just a few months ago. But now- people are gathering as a community to welcome strangers. What a beautiful picture of God's Kingdom.

Then I visit a primary school in rural Kenya. We are proposing a partnership with the school to support their feeding program. We talk about the importance of proper nutrition on learning in the school, and look around the grounds to see if there is a place where we can put a small farm. The head teacher agrees, and we form an enthusiastic partnership. Now, like in other schools in the area, the students can learn how to grow food, and they can benefit by eating that food at lunchtime daily. This will hopefully reduce drop-out rates and improve students' academic performance.

Then I visit a young man, in class 8. This child is part of Chalice's child sponsorship program. "What do you like to do in your free time?" I ask. He answers, "Running." "What do you like to do with your friends?" I ask. He answers, "Running." I ask his favourite sport, and this, unsurprisingly, is running. Finally, I ask him what he wishes to do when he grows up. Of course, he wants to be a runner. I imagine turning on the TV someday to see him take gold in the Olympics.

Then Hannah, a lady that shares a name and not much else in common with me, welcomes me into her home. Her child is sponsored, and she is the secretary of the microfinance group. She has used the money from the microfinance group to start a small shop, and she is making money for her family from this shop. On her little land, she has a kitchen garden. After we visit, she sends us with a bag full of spinach. It feeds us for three days.

Then I attend church, the church I can now call my church home in Nanyuki after four Sundays. Like always, the children sing a couple of songs during the service. One of these songs is familiar to me: "All other Gods/They are the works of men/But you are the most high God/There is none like you." I think of how I heard children at Malagash singing that very same song this summer. I think of how some of those children singing are the daughters and sons of teenage mothers. I think of how the church has welcomed these unconventional families with open arms. I am thankful for such a church.

Jesus gives the ultimate hope, though. Jesus both died and rose from the dead, which tells me two things about him: One, he understands suffering and injustice. And two, he is more powerful than the most powerful thing we can think of. I am thankful that Jesus is allowing me to be a part, even in such a small way, of toppling injustice.